


Dodge a Bullet  (literally)

by tenebris_ash



Series: Peter Parkour [2]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: BAMF Peter Parker, Gen, Humor, Peter is a Little Shit, School Shootings, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenebris_ash/pseuds/tenebris_ash
Summary: So, Flash had , for some stupid reason , decided that he would confront Peter over what happened last night. He should have known that nothing would go the way he wanted. Maybe cooking up a story and maintaining the facade of a harmless teenager would've been easier if he wasn't so busy trying to dodge bullets - literally- and subdue his attackers. Stupid school shooters! Couldn't they choose some other day to come to his school? Any day except this one would have been fine.Peter has to finally face the storm he unknowingly raised. He just hoped that the mask he wore remained intact by the time everything was over.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yohooo I am back. The shovel talk chronicles are now officially a series! (With a different and Very Original name, of course)  
> Many of you had wanted to see how Peter handles the aftermath of The Dinner. I decided to shove a cliche along the way.
> 
> Hope you like it.

Peter really hadn't known how everything had come to this. The day had started pretty normally, with him getting up about half an hour later than he should get up and hurrying through the morning routine, running out of the house after kissing May's cheek with a hurried goodbye and almost missing the bus because he just  _had_ to pet Mr Ronald's Labrador. Not a particularly pleasant start, but normal nonetheless . So naturally,  _something_ had to be ruined. And ruin it did. 

When Flash had walked to his locker, his normally present swagger was missing. In fact, he looked almost nervous _._ On a normal day, Peter would've been relieved, happy even, if Flash didn't start insulting him the moment he saw him, but today, it just felt odd. Then Flash did something something which was so out of character that he had a strong urge to check out of the window to see if pigs had suddenly started flying. Flash had smiled- honest to god  _smiled_ at him and said "Hey Peter, How are you?" Yes, the smile could be better described as a grimace, but that didn't change the fact that Flash had willingly walked over to make small talk with him. 

" Hello Flash.... Are you....... fine?" He asked, a little frown of concern making it's way to his face. There was no way Flash would ever willingly smile and ask him how he was unless he had undergone a complete personality overhaul in the last 12 hours. Or maybe he was sick?

"Uh, yeah. I am fine. Why do you ask that?" Flash asked in a faux nonchalent tone.

By this time, his classmates had crowded around them. Many were looking at Flash as if he had declared his neverending love for Teletubbies or something as ridiculous as that. And considering how their relationship was, a smile/grimace and polite, small talk from him came under the same category of ridiculousness. Clearly,  he wasn't the only one who was concerned about Flash's behaviour .

"Ummm because you are asking how I am?" He hadn't intended it to come out as a question but..... whatever.

" Yeah.... Why am I asking that? Nevermind. See you around Parker" with that Flash walked away without looking back once.

"Dude. That was super odd. Do you think he hit his head over an iron pole or something?" Ned remarked with a frown.

"Dunno man. I hope whatever it was didn't do any permanent harm. " Peter shrugged. Yeah, whatever. Flash talked to him politely. So what? Stranger things had happened ......... alright, maybe not. But whatever it was, he supposed there was no use mulling over it. Everybody proceeded to their classes as the bell for the first period rang.

                   _@_@_@_@_@_@_

The first half of the day went by without much incident . It was much the same thing, barely keeping awake through boring lectures about the theory he had learnt back when he was 10, surviving through the looks MJ gave him which made him feel like a bug under a microscope and ignoring his tingly spidey senses. Alright, maybe he felt a bit out of the ordinary without Flash glaring a hole in his back whenever he answered a question correctly and maybe he was a bit nervous about the warning nature of the tingles from his spidey senses. But it was a school. What possible danger could be here? 

Wrong question. Why, haven't you heard Murphy's law? Anything that can go wrong, will definitely go wrong.

Ned and he had been eating lunch. Well, it was more of an argument over whether Voldemort was more evil than umbrige, with MJ throwing sarcastic remarks and popcorn (where did she even get it from? The cafeteria did not serve popcorn. He had checked. For science, of course) from her chair two seats away from the nerds. He was almost winning the argument over why Umbrige deserved to be thrown in the darkest pit of hell with slimy toads when somebody cleared his throat behind him in a rather Umbrige like fashion-

"Hem hem"

He turned to look at the offending person who kept him from his victory and came face to face with - you guessed it right- Flash Thompson.

"Can I talk to you for a minute...... alone?" He asked without preamble, glancing at Ned and MJ.

"Why? I am sure whatever you need to say can be said in our presence." Ned unwittingly repeated Flash's words from last night.  "Nobody pays us any mind, you won't be overheard." He continued.

Flash looked at Peter , almost pleading , but Peter had no intention of meeting the person who bullied him everyday without any witnesses if he could help it, especially when said bully was acting unlike himself. After sometime, Flash huffed and said

"God Parker, it is not as if I am calling you alone to murder you or something ......."

Well, when he put it like that........ it  _was_ worrying.......

Peter slowly inched away from Flash, halfway over the lunch table. Something was wrong. But Flash seemed lost in his own thoughts. Then he frowned.

"On second thoughts, it would be better if we talked right here"

Peter straightened. This was getting out of hand. Flash wasn't supposed to agree to anything he or Ned suggested. Flash Thompson going out of his way to inconvenience him was how the world worked, and right now nothing made sense.

"Alright, what happened to you. Why are you behaving so out of character? Did you hit your head or something?" There. He said it. Might as well get this over it. Besides, if Flash needed medical help then that was what the school nurse was paid for, right?

"What is wrong with  _me_? I could ask you the same question Parker" Flash growled. Well, that was more like him- wait! 

"What do you mean?" Peter asked in confusion and worry. He replayed the events of the whole day but couldn't find anything that suggested that Peter had slipped out of his harmless, nerdy persona.

"Don't act so innocent. You know that I am talking about last night's dinner when you gave my uncle the shovel talk, complete with serious threats about bodily harm on his person-"

There was a loud choking sound from Ned, who had been in the process of drinking water and suddenly both Flash and Peter found themselves sprayed with water. Eww. MJ, who had been surprisingly clean tutted and sat back with her popcorn, clearly enjoying their misey.

"Ned, totally not cool" Peter grimaced with disgust. But Ned did not give any indication of hearing him, he seemed too shocked and awed for that.

"Dude, you  _what_ ?" He asked after he got himself under control.

 "Yeah yeah, Aunt May introduced me to her boyfriend who is Flash's uncle. We met and talked in a family dinner that happened last night." Peter said in a bored tone, then he turned sheepish "I.... may or may not have threatened him with certain death if he ever decided to upset May....... and...... a certain merc with a mouth may or may have been involved-" Then he glared at Flash "but remember that I will go through every warning I made. They are not idle threats, they are  _promises_." He glared some more.

Flash gulped. "See, that is what I was talking about! You are Peter Parker, the biggest nerd and softie in the school. You are not supposed waltz in and give people shovel talks and threaten them with severe bodily harm while being all dark and menancing. And you even pulled it off!" At this point, he, a (somewhat) mature, self respecting teen, was outright whining. " You are supposed to talk about peace and non violence, maybe go and save a kitten or two" he continued.

Peter looked on in pity, torn between laughing or sympathizing. Flash looked as if his whole world had tilted on it's axis. But Ned had no such qualms. He snorted and chuckled without any care in the world, as if all of this was too good to be true. Maybe it was.

           @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

MJ was busy drawing furiously in her notebook, intent on capturing every line, nook and cranny of Flash's flabbergasted expression. Peter's half worried and half exasperated expression and Ned's uncontrollable looks of explosive amusement made the whole scene into a masterpiece. If she ever decided to open an exhibition of her art pieces, she would keep this one on a golden pedestal. Eyeing the completed piece of perfection before her, she hummed to herself. Maybe opening an exhibition was worth it, even if for the hilarious expressions all three were bound to have when they see it. That would make for another masterpiece. See, this was why she sat near them. It was always so entertaining. There was also the fact that they were her only friends, but mostly, she sat here for the drama. Her speculations complete, she looked up to see Flash whining about how unfair it was that Peter actually had a backbone. Oh, how surprised he would be.....

"You know, for someone who has been supposedly 'terrorising' Peter for almost two years, you are surprisingly ignorant to the way he is." 

Three surprised heads swivelled to her direction. It took them a moment to get over the fact that MJ had spoken something which wasn't an insult or pure sarcasm. It took them another moment to process her words, after that, each gave a different reaction. Flash was sputtering and whining, Peter sat slack jawed, surprised that MJ had come to his defence and Ned was busy snorting again.

"Seriously, did you really think that Peter did not have a backbone? Why is it so surprising to you that the person who endured your bullying for two years without breaking, actually had a personality?" 

It seemed that Ned had finally gained control of his laughter as he continued where MJ had left

"If there is one thing you need to know about Peter Parker, it is that he is fiercely protective of his loved ones. If you did something to harm or upset somebody he cares for, then there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Aunt May is his guardian and he is aunt May's guardian. He may not look like much to you, but you better hope that he doesn't need to break that image."

Then he stopped and turned to look at Peter, worried that he had said too much, but the look on Peter's face made him more than a little worried. Just as he was going to ask him what was wrong, Peter looked at him and yelled- 

" Eveyone  **DUCK!** "

And a loud bang echoed in the cafeteria. 

 


	2. That literal bullet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this, my friends, is Parker luck, in all it's rotten glory. You will find that it is completely in accordance with Murphy's law.
> 
> It seemed as if the universe had conspired to destroy Peter's secret identity. And here he thought that the day couldn't get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! There you go- the second part.  
> You know, I hadn't intended for it to be a two-shot, but my hand slipped and I could only watch in dismay as my uncompleted draft was bared for the world to see.......
> 
> No, seriously. My crappy phone just up and decided to post the thing rather than saving it............. but maybeeeee this 2-shot works well too

Remember when Peter had said that all was well? No? Well, he didn't either. Because when had is life  _ever_ been normal? First, there was aunt May's boyfriend. Then there was Flash. And now, this. Why couldn't he just get a break? 

When Flash had come to their table to 'talk' , he knew that it was a disaster in making. But he, in absolute Peter  Parker fashion, shrugged off all the bad feelings he had about it and jumped head on into the train wreck that was their talk. No, he didn't regret talking to Robert Thompson the way he had. In fact, he was sure he'd add some more threats about maiming certain body parts if he ever got a chance to repeat what he had done. But that didn't mean that he had to like the consequences.

Then there mas MJ. To say that she had surprised him was a gross understantement. Sure, she had defended him from Flash when his comments hit closer to home than he was comfortable with, but her preferred language was always insults and sarcasm. And now she was complementing him! 

Alright, so maybe it wasn't really a complement. But who was he kidding? This was MJ, when something like this came out of her mouth, it was the same as a complement of the highest order. He was surprised that she even bothered to say  _anything_. She was practically sitting in a treasure trove of distressed people. Why wasn't she sketching away instead of defending him? That's what friends were for, he guessed with a smile.

Speaking of friends, Ned-the traitor had finally decided to sober up and say something. But whatever he had to say was lost in the sudden blaring of his spidey senses. No, something wasn't wrong,   _everything_ was wrong. He could vaguely see Ned looking at him with concern, but the only thing currently in the forefront of his mind was "DANGER ALERT" in bright red letters. He yelled-

"Everyone  **DUCK!** "

And ducked under the table, taking Ned and Flash with him. MJ too, had heeded his warning and was now crouched under the table, looking at him questioningly. She opened her mouth, no doubt to say something sarcastic, but whatever she had to say was drowned in the loud bang and the subsequent screams of the students as they ducked for cover. Initially, none of them had payed his warning any more attention than one gave to a random stone on the road, but the loud bang- a gunshot- was plenty of incentive to hide. 

Footsteps echoed around him and suddenly they were surrounded by armed and masked men. One of them grabbed a girl and put a gun to her temple.

"Nobody moves, or this girl will get a bullet in her skull" he shouted. 

The girl, Peter recognised her as Cindy Moon, was a member of the decathlon team. They shared some classes too, and he vaguely remembered her talking to her friends in decathlon about her birthday this week. And now here she was, trembling with fear, maybe wondering if she would live to see her 16th birthday. Well, she would have her party, if Peter had any say in it.

Nobody moved. Mrs Dodds, today's lunch superviser was pale and frightened, but she still tried to defend Cindy.

"She is just a child! Please leave her. We promise none of us will move." She pleaded with the masked hostiles. But predictably, didn't budge.

Peter was torn between pressing the panic button he and Ned had to call Mr. Stark and going out and helping Cindy. 

 If he pressed the panic button and then sat back doing nothing, then at least one person would be harmed. Besides, it would take around half an hour for Mr. Stark to reach the school building and it wouldn't be subtle either. That would give the intruders plenty of time (as well as incentive) to shoot some students. 

On the other hand, if he decided to fight them himself, then his secret identity won't remain a secret anymore........

.....maybe he could do something in between? Divert their attention till ironman comes and saves the day......

Of course, the plan wasn't foolproof, far from it, in fact, but he couldn't think of anything better. He may still end up exposed as spiderman, but he couldn't think of any better way he'd want the world to know the identity of spiderman (even though he preferred his identity as a secret). Spiderman was an idea- he saved lives, and nothing came above the lives of the innocents.

His decision made, he looked at the intruders. They wore black clothes and the mask hid any distinguishing feature they may have had. Moreover, they were armed and had no qualms about hurting their captives. There were around seven men in the cafeteria alone, counting the two men who stood near the doors. They were , no doubt, guarding it to ensure that nobody entered or exited the area without their knowledge. 

One of the masked men whispered something into the ears of a man who was dressed a bit differently than the others. The way he carried himself and gave instructions to others clued Peter to the fact that he was the leader of this group. Two other men entered the room and gave their report to the leader. Peter's senses tingled and he immediately had an idea about what the leader was going to say. He nudged Ned and they exchanged a look. Then both of them pressed their panic buttons at the same time. Their timing had been perfect, any later and they wouldn't get a chance to press it. 

"Everybody come out slowly and give your phones or any other electronic item you have. Then kneel on the gound and keep your hands where we can see them. Remember, no funny business, or your friend won't come out of this alive." The leader barked, pointing at Cindy menancingly. The poor girl whimpered and silent tears made their way down her cheeks.

All the other children in the cafeteria wore similar looks of fear and worry. Slowly they came out of the places they had been hiding, keeping their hands above their ears. One by one they submitted their phones and electronics with reluctance, unwilling to part with the only thing they had to notify the authorities. 

Peter and others at his table made their way to the area where the other students knelt. Ned looked at Peter questioningly, silently asking what they were going to do now. The whole area was silent, as if people were afraid of breathing. The silence was only broken when one of the intruders said something. Peter looked at Cindy again, she was now hiccuping, tired from crying. It was doubtlessly a traumatic experience for her. She was as pale as a ghost and seemed close to fainting. And faint she did, no longer able to endure the fear. A few students shrieked as Cindy slumped back in her captor's hold. The masked man growled and pushed her to the ground, searching for an easier victim. The leader barked at him, and grabbed the nearest student he could find- which so happened to be Peter. 

Well, better him than any other defenceless student. He looked reassuringly at his friends and Mrs Dodds who had taken Cindy and was now in the process of reviving her. Her fainting had broken the silence of the room and now every student was shuffling or moving restlessly.

A loud bang stopped all the noise.

"SILENCE"

Everybody stopped immediately.

"That's better. Now listen to me carefully. We have a set of demands. You are going to help us achieve them."

The crowd looked uneasy. Peter tested the hold his captor had on him. A gun was kept near his temple and the man holding him had a strong grip on both of his arms. While that may have been enough for a normal person, it was child's play for him to get rid of his captor. His strength and reflexes would ensure that he escaped from the one holding him. But he couldn't use too much strength or stick to the walls- that would be a dead giveaway to his identity. He lamented the fact that he hadn't bought his suit or webshooters, or he would've escaped, changed into spiderman and subdued his attackers. Normally, he always had his suit with him, especially since he went to patrol after school was over, but his suit was currently in Tony's private lab, undergoing upgradation. They had lab day today and under normal conditions he would've gone to the tower after school.

He quickly took inventory to the options he had. He had to limit the usage of his spider powers, which meant that he had to rely on his brain and the training he had recieved from Mr. Stark. Hypothetically he could subdue the hostiles present in this room if he stretched his options and used some of the guns. He had learnt to operate some weapons from Mr. Stark because apparently, his protege needed to learn to use whatever weapon he had for self defence. Once he had gotten the hang of it, he had been deemed a natural. Using his webs had meant that he had a good aim. He didn't like causing violence and bloodshed but he knew that sometimes it was necessary for the protection of loved ones.

But subduing the ones in the cafeteria still left the ones who were in the other parts of the school.

His thoughts were interrupted when another of the masked men entered the room with a bundle. On closer examination, the bundle turned out to be holding a camera. The other men helped set up the device and the leader started talking.

"Good afternoon officers. We have the students of Midtown. If you want them to live, fulfil our demands. We really have three simple wishes. Free our members from the prison, give us the blueprints of MMC- Kevnar missile and deliver Tony stark to us. You have two hours. After that, for every hour you delay, one of these kids will die. And their blood would be on your hands."

Peter scoffed internally. Did they really think that they would get Mr. Stark and the blueprints to currently one of the most dangerous missiles in the world so easily? Amateurs. Just because they were successful in taking a school full of children as hostages didn't mean that they were capable of achieving everything they wanted. Did they even think about how they were going to subdue Tony, who was already enhanced through extremis? Did they even think how they were going to escape? Because as soon as they left the school, they would lose the advantage that keeping multiple hostages provided. They may as well surrender.

The leader continued, "Whom would you choose? Hundreds of children or one man who destroyed more than he created? You don't even have the avengers now, disbanded due to the arrogance of the same man whom you seek to save."

Peter's blood boiled hearing this. Out of all the things he could've said, this was plain nasty. The accords hadn't been perfect, but sometimes, it is better to bend to save your neck and then fight back after recuperating. The accords could've been modified, and some of the clauses were logical. They had been a cause of the disbanding of avengers, but they hadn't been the only one. And the main cause of so much destruction hadn't been Tony's ego. Far from it. And this terrorist just had to talk about something that was still a touchy subject for him. Peter knew that this video would be seen by Mr. Stark and he also knew that this would hit a nerve in him. He knew that Tony still blamed himself for a lot of things that happened. An almost silent growl escaped his lips. But that was loud enough to be heard by everyone. 

The leader looked at him, surprised of his reaction. The crowd of students sat with bated breaths, fearing for his well being. It was no secret that Peter was an ardent fan of Tony Stark. But they hadn't realised that he would try to defend him from even the terrorists who could kill him.

The leader stalked up to Peter and roughly dragged him in front of the camera. Peter was startled to notice that they had been transmitting everything live. But in hindsight, it made sense. But this also meant that Mr. Stark had seen everything. If the police had been notified, then they would drag Tony into it, and he wouldn't be able to reach the school by half an hour of sending the distress signal. He glanced at the watch and noticed that it had been at least an hour since they had been taken hostage. The police was probably outside the school, trying to breach into the institution without notifying the trigger happy terrorists. Tony couldn't enter as Ironman for the fear of injuring the students. He wasn't exactly known for his subtlety. 

 True to his thoughts, a large voice echoed in the room, making Peter wince -

"Hostiles surrender. We have you surrounded from all sides. Your accomplices have already given up. Leave the hostages and come out peacefully." 

The leader of the terrorists did not seem very happy about the fact. He growled and roughly took hold of Peter by his hair. Standing in front of the camera, he proceeded to take out his gun and placed it on nis captive's temple. The hostages screamed.

"You made a very foolish decision. Now these children will have to endure the consequences" he growled and shook Peter for a good measure. Then his figers found the trigger and the leader said " say goodbye to everybody. That will be the last thing you will say in your life" and with a nasty grin, he pulled the trigger.

A lot of things happened at the same time. All the hostages screamed for their classmate, filled with fear and pity, Peter's friends were the loudest of them all. A loud bang echoed in the cafeteria,  followed by a pained groan. And a lone figure fell on the ground, clutching his bloody head.

But it wasn't Peter who was on the ground, it was the leader. Surprised by this turn of events, the people of Midtown High could only stare in amazement as the person they had thought of as a loser had headbutted a terrorist and saved his brains from being splattered on the walls. Everybody had been so sure that Peter would die, but he had moved like a blur and the bullet that had been fired for him had somehow been lodged in a wall. Some tried to calculate how fast one has to be to dodge an already fired bullet and the results were staggering. Others just sat in their places and watched in awe as Peter singlehandedly dispatched the 10 or so terrorists in the room.

And while everybody was busy speculating how loser Parker became so badass, Peter had only one thought in mind-  **protect**. 

Peter had known what was going to happen even before the leader of the terrorists had yanked him by his hair. He had a lot of time to make his decision (if it hadn't already been made). He wasn't afraid of dying . Otherwise, he wouldn't risk his life day and night to fight petty criminals and save civilians . Of course, he'd prefer to stay alive, but if it meant saving somebody he loved at the cost of his own life, then there was no better way to go than that. But dying without a fight just wasn't in his blood. He had thought of May- she couldn't lose the last of her family to the piece of metal that a bullet was. He had thought of his friends, they were right there, watching him with anguish clear in their eyes. Knowing Ned, he would suffer from survivor's guilt, blaming himself from surviving when Peter himself had died. Afterall, spiderman may save the world but his guy in the chair saved him.

Last of all, he thought of his avenger family. Tony would beat himself over whatever wrong that happened with him. He wouldn't eat or sleep and generally just refuse to take care of himself, since that was Peter's job. Who would make sure that Tony didn't exist solely on coffee and pass out on the couch in his (their!) Lab after 33 hours of non- stop work? 

Pepper was like his second mother, how would she feel? What about Rhodey, Vision, dummy, U , butterfingers? His new family (and didn't that feel pleasantly surreal ? He had only ever had Ben and May as his family for so long) may avenge him, but he didn't want to be the cause of the anguish they would feel upon his death. Not when he could escape it so easily.

And so he ducked and then headbutted his captor and escaped his hold as the bullet meant for him lodged itself on the wall at the far end of the room. Without sparing a glance at his classmates and teacher, he picked up the gun that had fallen in the skirmish and kept it as a backup. Then he unleashed himself at the other terrorists who were busy staring at their leader in shock.

He punched the first one in the head with non-lethal force, content in just knocking them out. The second one put up a fight but in the end, he too, went down. The rest of the attackers had finally shaken off their shock and were now attacking Peter. But what were a few armed people in front of spiderman and Peter parker? He danced this dance with the criminals of queens thrice a week. And guess what, those petty criminals were far more competent than these terrorists. Hah! Amateurs. 

If Peter hadn't been so intent on dodging the bullets that were being fired at him continuously, he'd had told these people what he thought but maybe it was for the better that he did not open his mouth. Making bad puns and infuriating jokes while fighting bad guys was singularly attributed to Spider-Man . That and that whole walking on walls, sticking to roofs and firing webs shebang that came with being bitten by a spider. So far, he had been careful to avoid anything that would out him as a certain web slinging wally-crawly hero, he had only done whatever a human- albeit a well trained one- would be able to do. 

Besides, if he had to kick their collective asses, then he could at least pretend that it was difficult. Not that the terrorists were well trained, mind you. It was as if the only thing they had been trained for was stand with a gun and (try to) look intimidating. For Thor's sake, they didn't even know proper hand to hand combat!

'Seriously, is it their first time terrorising a group of children and taking hostages?' Peter thought in disbelief as he ducked down and slipped to his left and watched two of his attackers ,who had aimed at him from the opposite sides, take each other out. The fight (which seemed pretty onesided) had caused a lot of commotion and the other terrorists had started pouring into the room to investigate.

Meanwhile, all the other hostages were gawking at the scene, too awed to be frightened. But that didn't last for too long. The head of the gang had decided that since he couldn't take out the one fighting, he may as well cause some damage. The unlucky person to be grabbed had been none other than Ned.

"Stop fighting and surrender if you want your friend to live" the leader barked with a bloodied grin. Apparently , Peter had hit him a bit too hard and broken his nose. The blood trickling from his nose and the cut on his head gave him a grotesque appearance . The students cowered as he pushed the trigger of his gun to Ned's temple.

Peter, predictably , stopped fighting and put his hands up, staring at his best friend in worry. The reassuring look Ned tried to give may have been a tad bit effective if he hadn't looked so scared for his life. But as it was, Ned's expression did nothing to make Peter keep fighting and he kneeled on the ground in surrender.

"Now, that's better. But unfortunately, you were about 2 seconds slow...... I guess your friend will just have to die as the punishment" he grinned and held Ned tightly to stop him from struggling, but before he could press the trigger, a gunshot echoed in the room and the gun in his hands fell into the ground. The gun was followed by the leader who fell on the floor, howling with agony and clutching at his hand to stop the blood flow.

Everybody, students, teacher and terrorists alike, stared at Peter with their gaping mouths and fear filled eyes. That is everybody except Ned, who looked at Peter with gratefulness and awe. He looked like, 3 seconds away from fanboying. With his mouth trying to become one with the floor, the only thing he could say was "Duuudeee that was soo  _cool_!" in the way of a thank you.

Peter grimaced and nodded. He didn't like unnecessary bloodshed. Except, it wasn't unnecessary. He couldn't be squeamish about shooting these terrorists if they wouldn't learn and keep on targeting his friends.

These weren't just petty criminals who harmed people to get money. These were terrorists who thrived on killing innocents to make a statement. And as much disgusted as he was with himself for shooting them, he was more disgusted with people who thought of others as collateral damege. At least he was shooting them in non lethal areas. They would live without permanent injuries. Their victims? They had families who mourned for them. He would do what was necessary to protect. And if he had to bloody his hands to save some lives, then so be it.

The punch he initiated at a terrorist nearby broke everybody else from their stupor. And the fight started again. This time, Peter was keeping a close eye on the hostiles who reached nearer to the crowd of terrified students. He shot them in non-lethal areas like arms and legs to incapacitate them. He'd probably be traumatised for life because of it, but right now he was running solely on adrenalin and a need to protect.

Many a attackers dropped like flies, clutching their arms and legs as they were brought down by the teen's perfect aim. The fight was interrupted by the sounds of repulsers which signalled the arrival of ironman. Together, they made short work of the hostiles. The police, late as always, filed in to apprehend the criminals and cart off the injured to the hospital. There were no casualities. No surprise there. Peter had done a remarkable job in keeping everyone alive and the bloodshed to a minimum. But that did not stop him from feeling guilty. He suffered through the appraising looks the police officers gave him and smiled through the 'thank you's of his classmates who would undoubtedly question everything that happened here when they finally sort out their thoughts and emotions. 

He talked with May who had been frantic with worry. After swearing an oath that no, he didn't even have a scratch ( if some of the bruises a few lucky hits had given him were in the process of healing, then she didn't need to know that), he proceed to the car waiting for him that would take him to the tower for a week. 

Once they were seated in the car, Tony turned to Peter.

"Hey underoos, you alright?" Tong asked softly. Then after a few moments of hesitation, he continued  " No, really. I am not asking about only your physical health. How are you holding up..... mentally?"

Peter shrugged miserably "I...... I don't know." After some time, he continued in a small voice

"You know, my uncle Ben had died due to being shot by a thief. He had bled out in my arms" Tony sucked in a sharp breath. He had known that Peter had been present during his uncle's death, but he hadn't known that his uncle had been shot and bled out in his arms. That explained his initial aversion to guns.He cursed. Out of all the weapons he could have taught Peter to use, why did he choose a gun of all things? 

Unwitting to Tony's thoughts, Peter kept talking. "He had told me that great power came with great responsibility. He was the one who had created spiderman. Before that, I had just been a regular kid with awesome powers. But on that same day, I had promised myself that I wouldn't shoot or gravely injure anybody, even if the person attacked me. Afterall, we could always save ourselves with other means. Right?"

Tony grimaced, knowing that saving themselves without injuries wasn't difficult, it was the part about saving  _others_ that made it difficult. But he did not interrupt Peter's monologue.  He needed to get this out of his system.

"On one hand, I broke my promise to myself. On the other hand, it was necessary to save others. You know it was necessary, don't you Mr. Stark? It was necessary. I didn't want to hurt anybody. You understand that, don't you? I am not a bad person, am I?" At this point, his voice had turned pleading and hysterical .

 "You are one of the nicest people I've met Peter" At the use of his real name, Peter looked up at Tony with glassy eyes.

"When I was around your age" Tony said after some time, in the same soft tone he had used earlier "I had been kidnapped on my way to MIT"

Peter listened with rapt attention. Tony seldom shared anything about his college days that wasn't about his pranks.

"Howard had refused to pay the ransom"

At this, it was Peter's turn to grimace. Howard Stark was known for many things, but good parenting was not one of them. He was too preoccupied with finding captain America and building weapons to do anything for his family.

"I had somehow escaped the room they had locked me in. A good thing too, considering that the kidnappers hadn't been in a pleasant mood after talking with daddy dearest. Long story short, I ended up shooting 3 of my kidnappers and wounding them mortally. Still don't care what happened to them."

He chuckled humorlessly. "You see, I was a narcissistic, selfish and spoilt brat at that time. And although things have changed, I still wouldn't hesitate in wounding or even killing those who harm innocents. That was a vow I had taken when I had created ironman. That is the pledge that drives ironman. 

You are way better than I could ever be. How many superheroes can claim to have saved civilians without killing off or mortally wounding the attackers? Surprisingly  (or not so surprising for me) very few. What spiderman does, what  _you_ do is something very few can do...." he trailed off in his rather passionate speech when he saw Peter looking at him with huge, doe like, tear filled eyes.

 'Oh come on! This shouldn't be affecting me as much as it is!' Tony thought with fond disbelief as he pulled Peter into a hug.

"Ummm Mr- Mr. Stark"

"Hmm"

"The car is moving"

"Astute observation, Watson" 

"So.. uh why are you opening the door, then?"

"Underoos, I am not opening the door, I am hugging you. Come on, don't tell me you are too old for hugs from your old man" Tony joked, exasperated. 

"Oh.........we are there?" Peter asked.

"Yes, we are"Tony replied with a soft smile.

And with that, Peter hugged Tony like his life depended on it, taking strength from the fact that his mentor understood why he had to do it and why he didn't want to. 

"Hey underoos, do you know who  _my_ favourite superhero is?" He continued without waiting for an answer "It's not spiderman.......... it is  _you_ , Peter Parker"

The thousand megawatt smile Peter gave blinded him in a way the sun never had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had thought about adding the perspectives of others but then I decided against it..... don't worry, one of these days, I will write what peter's classmates think about him.....
> 
> I hadn't planned on adding Tony either..... but you know him.... can't have a spiderson without his irondad, right?
> 
> Tell me in the comments if tony or Peter were (too) ooc


End file.
